


this world we built

by jaemarked



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaemarked/pseuds/jaemarked
Summary: Jaehyun was too perfect to be real.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 26
Kudos: 102





	this world we built

**Author's Note:**

> not really sure what this fic is, but once i got the idea i couldn't get it out of my head.
> 
> apologies for any medical inaccuracies.
> 
> please note that while this fic doesn't contain smut there is implied sex. if that makes you uncomfortable please do not continue reading!

Donghyuck closed his book once the final words rang out in his head. He placed it in his bag, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy in his lap. It was too nice to stay inside, so Donghyuck had dragged Jaehyun to the beach. They had played in the waves for a while, and now they were resting under the shade of an enormous beach umbrella. 

Jaehyun had curled up in his lap while Donghyuck read one of his favourite books, despite his overly large stature. He was like a giant puppy who still thought he was the size of a lapdog, and Donghyuck’s legs were falling asleep under his weight, but he didn’t mind at all as he carded his fingers through Jaehyun’s dark blue curls, sticky with sea salt.

The sun beamed down on them just as he beamed down at Jaehyun’s sleeping figure. He gently applied more sunscreen to Jaehyun’s nose, cheeks, and forehead, not wanting him to burn. 

Living on a beach meant his skin had tanned beyond his usual sunkissed look, but Jaehyun still remained relatively pale in comparison. His skin was as smooth as the stones Donghyuck found on the beach, perfectly unmarred. Or perhaps more like a seashell, a soft beige and sleek to the touch.

Jaehyun stirred in his lap, scrunching his nose slightly before he blinked awake, squinting blearily up at Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck smiled at him with all the love in his heart, gently cupping Jaehyun’s cheek with one hand.

“Good morning,” he teased, and he watched as a slow, sleepy smile spread on Jaehyun’s face, gaze filled with adoration as he reached up to hook his arms around Donghyuck’s neck. “Enjoy your nap?”

“Yes,” Jaehyun said, finally sitting up. He still leaned his head against Donghyuck’s shoulder, playing with Donghyuck’s hand as he stared out at the water. He got this faraway look in his eyes, the way he always did as he gazed at the seas or up at the skies. He always came back to Donghyuck, in the end, so Donghyuck didn’t mind.

It took a while, but Jaehyun finally came back to himself, lifting his head off of Donghyuck’s shoulder. He wanted to go swimming, but Donghyuck was tired, so he went on his own. Donghyuck watched as Jaehyun stripped his shirt off, revealing a perfectly toned body and chiseled abs. What was more surprising than Jaehyun’s modelesque body was his flawless skin. Not a single scar, mole, or birthmark. He looked like a statue, not a human being, but Donghyuck has held him more times than he could count, and Jaehyun was always radiating warmth. 

“Sometimes,” Donghyuck would gasp, body alight as Jaehyun pushed his hands up his shirt, mouthing against his collarbone. “It feels like you’re a dream. A figment of my imagination.”

And Jaehyun would respond: “Would a figment of your imagination be able to do this?” 

Heat coiled in Donghyuck’s gut as he remembered how Jaehyun had pushed into him, had made him cry out and beg for more. Jaehyun was always so gentle with him, but Donghyuck ached anyway. And when Jaehyun held him close at the end of the night, his arms around Donghyuck’s waist, Donghyuck wondered how he ever doubted Jaehyun was real.

Sure, Jaehyun seemed almost too good to be true, but that was just a bonus for Donghyuck, who loved the way Jaehyun loved him. Loved the way Jaehyun smiled at him, kissed him, hugged him. Loved how Jaehyun threw his head back when he laughed, dimples digging in his cheeks. How Jaehyun hugged the blankets when he slept, how his ears turned red when he lied or when he was embarrassed. He just loved Jaehyun, wholly, with every inch of his being. 

And Jaehyun loved him in return.

Jaehyun returned from the ocean and scooped Donghyuck in his arms, shaking out his wet hair and splattering Donghyuck with saltwater. Donghyuck squealed and giggled, clinging to Jaehyun’s neck so he didn’t fall. Jaehyun laughed and kissed him, tightening his arms around Donghyuck who happily kissed him back. 

“Let’s go home,” Jaehyun said between kisses. Donghyuck wriggled out of his hold, and once he was back on two feet, he pulled Jaehyun down for another kiss, felt him smiling against his mouth. Feeling bold, he groped brazenly at Jaehyun’s ass clad in soaked swim trunks. There was no one else on the beach, there never was. Jaehyun shuddered at his touch, pressing closer. Donghyuck leaned up on his toes, splaying his hands on Jaehyun’s damp chest. Finally, they broke apart, and Jaehyun looked so beautiful with his eyes glazed over and his mouth swollen pink.

“Yes,” Donghyuck agreed breathlessly, stepping back but intertwining their hands. He brought Jaehyun’s hand up to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles. “Let’s go home.”

Jaehyun’s beach house was beautiful. 

It gleamed in the sunlight, white bricks and columns standing tall. The enormous windows and glass sliding door reflected the setting sun and the glimmering pool, and the wooden floors gleamed as if freshly polished. His home was filled with expensive furniture, sleek electronics, a real fireplace, and luxurious goods.

Donghyuck paid attention to none of those things as Jaehyun pulled his shirt off, kissing him slowly and deeply. There wasn’t any of the usual lust behind it, both of them too tired to do anything more than makeout, but Jaehyun liked it when Donghyuck had his skin on display. They toppled onto the couch with Donghyuck straddling Jaehyun, leaning down to join their mouths together once more.

“I love you,” Donghyuck sighed into Jaehyun’s mouth.

“I love you too,” Jaehyun replied immediately, cupping the back of Donghyuck’s neck. Eventually, they grew tired of kissing, and turned on the TV to watch a movie. Half an hour later, Jaehyun got up to prepare dinner while Donghyuck snuggled under a throw blanket, mindful of the damp spot Jaehyun had left behind. He debated getting up to shower, but decided he would rather do it before bed. Every time they made a mess, Jaehyun would just hire a cleaning service to deep clean the house while they were out on the beach or driving into the city. They had rinsed their feet outside, but Donghyuck’s shorts still spilled sand across the cushions. 

“Hyuckie, come eat,” Jaehyun called. Donghyuck blinked, he hadn’t realized he was in a daze. The movie wasn’t paused, but it was on the same scene Donghyuck remembered watching not too long ago. Or…did he watch it? Was it just that he had seen this movie several times before and his mind was filling in the blanks? 

“ _Donghyuck_ ,” Jaehyun repeated, probably trying to sound stern but coming across sulky. Donghyuck paused the movie, wondering what he had been thinking about. How long had he been sitting there before Jaehyun called his name again?

He entered the kitchen and Jaehyun was already dressed in loose track pants and a fitted grey t-shirt. Donghyuck hadn’t even heard him go into the bedroom. 

“You okay?” Jaehyun asked when he caught the look on Donghyuck’s face.

“I’m kinda out of it,” Donghyuck admitted, sliding into a kitchen chair. He himself was still shirtless and dressed in shorts. It was odd, comparing himself to Jaehyun, but Donghyuck usually walked around in his boxers anyway. “I guess I zoned out while watching the movie.”

“Maybe you’re more tired than you thought,” Jaehyun said, placing a plate of lasagna in front of Donghyuck. His eyes lit up and he picked up a fork, digging in eagerly. Jaehyun’s cooking always looked like it came straight from a food magazine. Donghyuck was honestly _spoiled._

He sometimes felt like a trophy wife in an old movie, just laying around the house in designer boxers that Jaehyun had bought for him. He wasn’t that much of a cook, and Jaehyun had someone clean the house and pool every other day. He was jobless and Jaehyun…

What did Jaehyun do?

“Jae,” Donghyuck said, putting his fork down. “What do you do for a living?”

Jaehyun blinked at him over his own slice of lasagna. “Did you forget? I used to be a model and actor, and I retired when I was twenty-two.”

Had Donghyuck known that? He thought harder and realized that he did. He knew that Jaehyun had started out as a child actor, and landed huge roles in movies and dramas all throughout his childhood and early teenage years. Once he was eighteen, he had started modeling for brands like Gucci and Calvin Klein. But once his contracts expired, he retired and bought a modest waterfront home.

“I don’t know how I forgot,” Donghyuck frowned. Jaehyun looked concerned, standing up from the chair and rounding the table. He pressed a hand to Donghyuck’s forehead. 

“You feel a little hot. Maybe you’re getting sick,” Jaehyun said, biting his lip the way he always did when he was worried.

Come to think of it, Donghyuck didn’t feel too great. He had only half of his portion of food, and thinking about eating the rest made him feel queasy. He pouted, not wanting to waste Jaehyun’s hard work, but Jaehyun seemed to have no qualms about throwing Donghyuck’s half eaten food in the trash, picking him up from his chair and placing him back on the couch. 

“I’m gonna run you a bath, then you can take some medicine and rest,” Jaehyun said, kissing Donghyuck’s temple. Donghyuck sighed, leaning back into the cushions as Jaehyun disappeared into the bedroom.

He dozed off, and woke up when Jaehyun returned, insisting on being carried again. Jaehyun rolled his eyes but lifted him up easily enough, carrying him into the bathroom and helping him shed his shorts and step into the enormous soaking tub that was in the master bathroom. Donghyuck sighed as he sank down into the warm water, and Jaehyun followed soon after he had taken off his own clothes.

They sat in mostly silence, except for Jaehyun humming while he scrubbed Donghyuck’s hair with expensive shampoo and then followed up with a special hair treatment. Jaehyun did this often -- they spent so much time at the beach that the saltwater and sun were damaging their hair. Donghyuck’s was slightly fried, especially because he had recently dyed it, but Jaehyun’s hair was always soft and silky. Probably because he used all those fancy creams and hair masks, while Donghyuck was lucky to remember to use conditioner. 

Eventually, Donghyuck grew sleepy, so Jaehyun lifted him out of the water. His limbs felt like jelly, whether that was the exhaustion hitting or the heat, he didn’t know. Jaehyun wrapped him in a big fluffy towel and sat him on the bed. Donghyuck stared at the pictures they had on the wall of the master bedroom. There were mostly pictures of Jaehyun in various places -- at the beach, in the ice cream parlour, at the pier, in the arcade. Donghyuck frowned when he realized he didn’t remember taking any of those pictures. He remembered going to those places, but that was it. There were gaps in his memory.

“Am I losing my mind?” Donghyuck asked himself quietly.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Jaehyun emerged from the bathroom again, fully dressed. He took a smaller towel and sat behind Donghyuck on the bed, beginning to dry his hair. Donghyuck kept quiet, and Jaehyun didn’t ask again, most likely having forgotten. He sang under his breath, a song Donghyuck never heard of. He helped Donghyuck get dressed in comfortable pajamas and tucked him under the blankets.

Donghyuck suddenly felt sleepy as Jaehyun smiled at him fondly, pushing his hair off of his forehead. His body sank into the mattress as if he was filled with wet cement. His eyelids were heavy, and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

“Didn’t brush my teeth,” he slurred.

Jaehyun laughed. “Don’t worry, baby, it doesn’t matter.”

Donghyuck could only manage a short nod, not bothering to question what Jaehyun had said. His eyes fell shut despite his best attempts, and his limbs no longer responded to his commands. He was really tired… 

“Hey.” The bed dipped down next to Donghyuck, but he couldn’t open his eyes. He felt Jaehyun’s hand on his own, warm and familiar. “Why don’t I take you somewhere special tomorrow? You and me, just like always.”

“Sounds good,” Donghyuck replied sleepily. His tongue felt thick in his mouth, and he struggled to speak. He really wanted to fall asleep, but at the same time his body ached for Jaehyun as if spending days on end together wasn’t enough.

_You and me, just like always._

It _had_ always been Jaehyun and Donghyuck. He couldn’t remember spending time with anyone else. Did he… have other friends? Did Jaehyun have other friends? In the time he had known Jaehyun, he had never seen Jaehyun interact with anyone else. In the time he had known Jaehyun… how long had he known Jaehyun for again?

“Jae,” Donghyuck mumbled, “how long have we been dating for?”

He heard a short laugh, and felt soft hands in his hair. Lips pressed to both of his cheeks, then his nose, and finally his mouth, and despite the fact that Donghyuck was exhausted, he accepted them eagerly.

“Go to sleep, baby.”

“Okay,” Donghyuck slurred. “Love you.”

Then everything went dark.

They called it a medical miracle. A truly genius advancement in technology. 

The patient was lying asleep on the bed as he had been for the past two months. A group of students surrounded him, clutching phones and notepads to take notes as the doctor spoke.

“This is Donghyuck Lee. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour three months ago. His body rejected all treatments and he was in terrible pain all the time. It was too risky to perform surgery to remove the tumour. Doctors were forced to put him in a medically-induced coma. But now with VR technology,” Dr. Park gestured to the headset strapped to the patient’s head and face, “Donghyuck is able to continue living inside a virtual world while undergoing chemotherapy.”

“Is he aware that he’s in a virtual world?” One student asked.

Dr. Park shook his head. “No, the awareness would be too taxing on his mental health and well-being. He has no idea that the world he’s living in is not real, and it will continue to be that way until he is cured...” _Or until he died,_ the doctor didn’t say.

“Can we see what his world looks like?” Another student piped up.

The doctor nodded and switched on one of the monitors surrounding the patient’s bed. The state-of-the-art technology was fitting for a luxurious private hospital, but the students still gasped when the screen depicted a beautiful beach with white sands and blue-green waves. It looked perfectly realistic, not at all like the VR worlds they themselves had entered before.

The patient on the bed, Donghyuck, was sitting on the beach, though they could finally see his whole face rather than just the uncovered lower half. He looked much healthier, with actual flesh on his limbs rather than skin and bone. He was reading a book with a handsome man sleeping in his lap. He looked _happy._

The students who had once been questioning the morality of the situation realized all at once that this VR treatment was a good thing. Surely, if people once used medical marijuana to cope with their symptoms, then it was better that Donghyuck was able to live out the rest of his days in bliss rather than agonizing pain.

The doctor allowed a few more questions before deciding to move onto another patient’s room. The students followed him happily, soaking up the information like sponges. It wasn’t often that university students got the opportunity to tour such an amazing medical institute.

Only one student lingered, staring at the screen with a small, but sad smile on his face. 

“Mark, are you coming?” Another student paused in the doorway of the patient’s room, waiting for his friend.

“Yeah,” Mark replied, turning away from the bed. The past was in the past, and he had to let it go. Perhaps once upon a time, he and Donghyuck used to be friends, but not anymore. He walked over to the door and linked arms with his fellow student. 

“Let’s go.”

In the waiting room of the hospital, a man picked up a magazine from one of the small tables. Its glossy pages featured celebrity gossip, though most of these magazines were a few months old, so he doubted it was the latest news. He didn’t really care for these things, but he was bored waiting for his brother to finish his hospital tour so they could go home. He flicked through the pages, disinterested, and considered just getting up and finding a gift shop or something. One headline, however, caught his eye, and he sank down on a couch to read it.

**Superstar Jaehyun Jung Volunteers To Act In New Medical VR Treatments**

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/jaemarkism)  
>  [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/jaemarked)


End file.
